True story: My neighbor worked here as a federal employee for Medicare and he retired getting a buy out (they dont lay off there) in his early 50s. As part of it the gubment gave him retirement health care at that age early 50s which is similar benefits as Medicare we MAY get at 65 or 66. And he got it under under Bush.
Isn’t that great?
Medicare is running huge deficits NOW that neither party will admit and this guy gets it in his early 50s for working for Medicare/Fed job to GET RID OF HIM. And that is ‘off the table’.
System was changed in 1987. I suspect your neighbor was hired before that. If so he was “grandfathered in”. Reagan significantly altered (read reduced) the pension system for Federal Workers. People hired after 1987 don’t get that kind of deal.
http://www.opm.gov/retire/pre/fers/computation.asp